


Blue Roses

by SunWeaver



Series: Community Garden [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Broken Bones, Depression, Drug Use, F/M, Gen, Not Beta Read, Tags to be added, Underage Drinking, Veth and Nott are separate people
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:55:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26513284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunWeaver/pseuds/SunWeaver
Summary: In the first semester of college, Caduceus manages to make friends, see their messy lives, and break an arm. And they haven’t even had midterms yet. Also, who’s this Molly guy again?
Relationships: Captain Avantika & Fjord (Critical Role)
Series: Community Garden [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1926310
Kudos: 9





	Blue Roses

**Author's Note:**

> This could have been two chapters, but after not updating my last fic in months, I felt I was due in to make a long opener to a new part of this story.
> 
> Please be mindful that there are some tags I have placed for the safety that I may start to dive into sensitive subjects involving abusive relationships. Tags may change overtime, so that is another important thing to note. And if you think of any tags I should include, please let me know!

There were red and pink paper hearts strung along the bar that held up the curtain here at the ER. Caduceus was finally finding some reprieve in the painkillers kicking in. He tries looking for a clock, his eyes are weary with sleep and fuzzy around the edges.

“ _Mr. Clay?_ ”

For a moment, Caduceus could swear he’s heard that voice before. When looking to the parted curtain, he is surprised to see it matches up.

“Cali?” Caduceus’s eyes squint to try and clear his vision, he identified the jet black hair, and the hand holding a clipboard had scales while one half of her face was smooth skin.

“Caduceus??” She is now surprised too, “Wha- _oh wow_ , this sure isn’t a place I ever expected to see you show up!”

“Ah… Yyou as’well,” Caduceus slurs his words.

Looking back down to her clipboard, she steps in, “So I’m here to ask you some questions… Um… Will you be alright answering?”

Caduceus seems to politely smile with droopy eyes, “Mmmhm.”

Clicking her pen, she puts it to the pad, “So you’re here because you suspect you broke your arm. How did the injury occur?”

There’s a long hum from him, slowly he leans forward more, and more, “Mmm-I fell.”

“From?”

“ _Where?_ ”

“Yes.”

“Hospital.”

“You were… You were at a hospital before you came to the ER?”

“Wha? No, s’was at a party. Leaned on the banners-banis-that rrrrailing, on stairs?” Caduceus’s head lolls around, as though his neck has no proper muscles to hold it up.

Calianna stares at Caduceus a moment, then writes onto the clipboard, “Was it a long drop?”

“Maybe,” Caduceus mindlessly fingers around the edge of his sweater.

She scrutinizes the clipboard in her hands, eyes scanning over it, before looking back up to him, “Caduceus, were you drinking at this party?”

* * *

“And there will be booze!” Beau whisper-shouts to her friends around the lunch table.

Fjord has a mouthful of burger chipmunked to one cheek, “Mh, yeah, sh’ounds cool.”

“I don’t care about that part, Beau,” Jester bemoans, “Are we going to be able to dress up? Like get all _fancy_ or dress with a _theme_?”

Beau crouches back down into her seat, “Uhh, not really, it’s pretty much just a regular house party,” She sees Jester deflate at that, “But hey, if you wanna dress up, I wouldn’t mind joining ya.”

Jester gasps with stars in her eyes, “Really??”

“Where is this happening again?” Caduceus asks as he leans down to his backpack on the floor and pulls out a notebook and pencil.

“Uhh, I can text you the address,” Beau says, not as enthused, “Or-wait, uh… I can text Caleb the address and he can help you sort it out.”

Caduceus looks on at her, then slowly takes his notebook and pencil, putting them away again, “So this is **_off-campus_**?”

“Yeah dude, otherwise there wouldn’t be booze,” She sits down into her chair properly, only to kick a foot up onto the edge of the table and lean herself back.

“Oh! I wonder if Nott and Yasha would like to come!” Jester quickly pulls out her phone, “I don’t know if Nott is scheduled to work that day.”

At the mention of her name, Caduceus leans forward, “If you don’t mind me asking-where has Yasha been?”

“Umm,” Jester pauses from her texting to look at him, “She’s got two jobs, so she’s just been really busy.”

Caduceus frowns at that, “Two jobs _and_ school?”

“Yeah man, not everyone gets it as lucky as we do,” Beau pushes her chair dangerously far onto the back two feet, “She’s trying to keep up with tuition and living off-campus.”

There’s a look of worry to Caduceus’s brow, “Ah… Um, well,” He then reaches over to his backpack once more and pulls out some papers, “She shares a math class with me, and I’ve been taking notes and photocopying them for her. She’s been absent for a while now. Would any of you be able to give them to her for me?”

Jester brings her phone to her lap, “Aww, Caduceus. That’s so sweet of you.”

“You really might be better off waiting for her to show up in class again,” Beau answers, “She’ll come back around. Probably just needs to work through a shitty overlap in her work and school hours.”

“But there’s already been a test she was absent from,” Caduceus laments, “And another one will be coming up fairly soon. So she really could use these to study.”

A ring comes from Jester’s phone as she looks down to read the reply.

Beau gives a shrug, “I dunno man, I’m sure she’s working it out with that teacher already. Missing a test is kinda a big deal.”

Jester then excitedly gasps, and hops in her seat, “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Yasha said that she’d be happy to come and she’s bringing Molly with her!”

“Finally, the prince of dicks will make his grand comeback,” Beau smirks coyly at that.

“Has anyone else gotten to actually text him?” Fjord poses the question to them.

“No,” Jester replies, with Beau following up with “Nope.”

“Huh… Ooookaaaay,” Fjord shifts his eyes suspiciously.

“I mean, I kinda did?” Jester clarifies, “I got Yasha to tell me that he’s back from _wherever_ he was and that he was in a lot of _craziness_ with moving into a new apartment, finding a new job, _and_ wanting to get a new phone!”

“Sheesh, that’s a lot,” Fjord winces, “What happened again??”

Jester shrugs, “Dunno! But maybe we can finally ask him!” Then turns to Caduceus, “And you can finally meet him!”

Caduceus smiles, “I’d be happy to meet more friends.”

“Oh, he’s really great! You learn to love him!”

“Or hate him,” Beau chimes in.

Jester chides at her, but then gets another text, looking at the message she gives a disappointed sigh, “OK, so Nott can’t come, she’s busy with closing tonight.”

“Aw, bummer,” Beau huffs while Fjord words a silent _Thank god_ at that.

Again, Caduceus slips the papers back into his bag, maybe if it isn’t too much trouble, he could try getting those notes to her at this Valentine’s Day party.

* * *

It’s been about a month now, Caduceus has started to get the swing of college by this point. Four classes challenged him in various ways he had not expected them to. From assigned readings to having to solve problems 10 to 40. It truly was the full experience, while no closer to being certain of what major he would like, getting through these basic core classes was a sure start on that path.

Caduceus also has become more comfortable with this group, while he has suspected Beau of wanting to distance herself from him, she doesn’t seem to fully mind that he’s always tagging along. Jester is the one that helps orchestrate most of the get-togethers while Caleb helps keep Caduceus constantly involved and in the loop when he still hasn’t gotten to join in on this “group chat”.

And as for living more independently now, Caduceus has come to appreciate the life he used to have when living at home. There was so much more privacy and far more space to exist solitary. Even when he has two younger sisters to pester him, he could resort back to that old tree in the garden and sit underneath it to be alone with his thoughts. Trying to find such a spot on campus was difficult, the city provided not a lot of space and any space available was already taken or would be invaded shortly after.

His one retreat would be his car at night.

* * *

Hunched over at his desk, Caleb pores over his book, reading attentively and writing into his notebook shorthand terms and summarized explanations to them.

At the sound of the key turning in the lock, Frumpkin’s head perks up from the bed, and as the door opens, the cat is hopping down and trotting up to Caduceus’s feet.

“Oh, hey little fella,” Caduceus timbers down to reach Frumpkin’s tail and tug it, walking into the shared bedroom, “Hey Caleb.”

“Ah hallo,” Caleb dismisses quickly.

Caduceus starts to drop off his backpack and jacket onto his desk chair while Caleb furiously writes and punctuates the last of his notes.

“Did you get Beau’s text?” Caduceus asks as he is untying his shoes.

“Oh _ja_ , I’m not err, too interested in such a party,” Caleb swivels his seat to look at Caduceus.

“That’s fine, I think I’m going to still make an effort, if you don’t mind me seeing the message so I can write down the address, that’s all I ask,” Caduceus tucks his shoes by the end of his bed and sits down.

“Ah! Here, let me,” Caleb pivots back around, flipping to a fresh piece of paper and pulling up his phone as he scribbles out the message himself, “... Say, herr Clay?”

“Hmm?” Caduceus hums as he reaches down to scratch Frumpkin’s back.

“Might I be able to ask you for something?” Caleb tears the paper and pushes his chair back to reach Caduceus.

“I’d be more than happy to help you, Caleb,” Caduceus smiles and receives the note.

Caleb is reluctant, Caduceus sees it by the way he is twiddling his thumbs and refusing to look him in the eye, “... If it… isn’t too much trouble to ask..?”

Caduceus turns an ear towards Caleb.

“... Might you have some… Erm… _Pot_ … I can borrow..?”

He goes to open his mouth to speak.

“Weed. I mean.”

His mouth shuts.

There is a pause, both of them sitting in silence with only the jingle of Frumpkin’s bell collar when he shakes his head.

“... It’s fine if you don’t-I mean, I’m sorry if that’s personal, I-I just-“

“Sure.”

Caleb looks astonished, “You mean it?”

“Yeah, but I feel it would be important that you know you shouldn’t smoke weed while you’re taking Zoloft. Or most other pharmaceuticals really.”

Caleb grimaces at that, “Oh, um, right. W-well, it’ll be for just in case. Whenever I run out, ya’know?”

Caduceus considers it, but he exhales through his nose, “Have you smoked before?”

“Uh-yes! Oh yes, I have, I uh… I smoked before in _err_ -in highschool. With some friends,” Caleb explains, “I know what I am getting myself into.”

With a little more deliberation, Caduceus smiles solemnly back to Caleb, “Alright, well when you need a smoke, let me know and we can have some together in my car.”

Caleb blinks, “Y-you’re not going to just…”

“Well you can’t smoke it in here, the smoke detector will go off,” Caduceus points to the wall-mounted disc, “I don’t mind helping you out, though. Just let me know and we can go to the parking lot, or go drive somewhere quiet.”

_Ah, I see,_ Caleb smiles back, “That is… This is very kind, yes-thank you, Caduceus.”

Caduceus nods back.

After a moment and Caduceus leaning back down to pet Frumpkin, Caleb speaks up, “You know what? I think I will go to that party too.”

* * *

No sooner in the _Gilmore’s_ were they decorating the entire store with roses and hearts were they now setting up a display with green shamrocks and a cardboard cut out of a dancing gnome all dressed in green and sporting fiery red hair.

It boiled Nott’s bones with how quickly the seasons change, by next week it’ll be summer sales after that was stock for back to school, then came Halloween (which was really the only time she really cared about), and not even breathing for Thanksgiving as they jump right into Christmas. The most _hellish_ time of year.

As Nott stews in her hatred of that atrocious display, her view of it was blocked then by a customer walking into her line of sight. She gives one last look over the customer’s shoulder at that mockingly jovial gnome, then settles back to her stool.

“Ah-hello! How are you doing today?” She asks, sparking casual conversation to this large orc man while she passes along contents coming from the conveyor belt.

He doesn’t pay her much mind, instead, he seems to be focused on the card reader, scrutinizing it as he looks to the card in his hand and back at the reader.

Nott continues her _customer service_ grinning, large, gnarled teeth that poke out over her lips. She usually did so to try and one-up the customer from giving her a hard time, but she was sure to tone it back when there was a baby riding in the buggy.

“... Um,” As she continues to scan and bag the items, she tilts her head, “I-is there something the matter, sir?”

“No… chip?”

She stands on her stool, all while scanning an item and plunking it into another bag, then leans over and looks at it herself. Tape covered the chip reader, specifically spelling out “NO CHIP AVAILABLE”.

“Oh! Yeah, so sorry about that, the reader still works!” Nott points to the slot, “Just slide the card through, should be fine!”

The orc man then looks to his card, holding it by the shorter end to then swipe through.

“Oh, uh-nope, you gotta-sorry!” Nott uses a foot to pass a box through the scanner and kicked it into a bag, “Longways! With the black bar side?”

He took a moment to look at the back of his card, “... Oh!” He then makes another attempt at swiping. As Nott is pushing the carousel and depositing more items in.

“Want your milk in a bag?” Nott asks, holding up the jug that is about half her size.

He gruffly huffs back.

Standing there and silently screaming, she just, eases the milk into a bag, hoping he doesn’t notice. Before then quickly scanning the last few items.

“There we are!” Nott finishes, sitting back down on the stool and tapping into the register, “So your total today is 36 dollars and 78 cents, are you paying credit or debit?”

“Deb…” He trails off.

Thankfully her large ears caught it, “Sure! Just going to need a PIN number then!”

He looks at the keypad, eyes squinting down at the tiny numbers. He then ever so carefully with his pinky finger pokes at each key. As he does, Nott takes the chance to crane her neck and look around him at that display. Though over by it, she spots Yeza.

His eyes catch hers and he smiles, giving her a wave.

Nott’s finds herself giving him a smile back, then is brought in by the beeping of the reader.

“... Invalid?” The orc man questions.

“Uh oh,” Nott taps into the system, “Must’ve missed a number! Here, swipe it again and we can do it over.”

They go through the same charade, ending in a similar result. The man looks to be frustrated as he looks at the card defiantly.

“Do you-uh, wanna just use c-credit instead?” Nott asks.

He huffs, “No. I have cash,” Pulling open his wallet, he sifts through some bills and hands over two 20s.

Nott grins, once again, as wide as possible. Taking the cash and popping the register open, and then collects the remaining total, “Here’s your change-“

“Oh hang on,”

_Oh no._

“Wait.”

_No no no_.

“I’ve got two cents,” Between two large gray fingers are pinched two tiny coins.

Nott looks at the money in her hand, then to his “change” that he just fished out of **_nowhere_**. It was taking her a moment, and then a moment became two, and then three, and four-

“Just subtract it,” He says.

Now she’s panicking.

“Y...you could always just…. Take… This for… Um… Parking meters..?” Nott says meekly.

Now he looks confused.

“Pardon me!” Yeza hops up onto the stool with Nott, taking the money from her hands and setting it back into the register, “3 dollars and 24 cents is your change then!” He then passes the change over while taking to the two pennies, “Thank you and have yourself a glorious day.”

The Orc man takes his bags, placing them into his cart, and walking along. When he is out of view, Nott turns to Yeza and gives him a mighty big hug, “You are… My hero.”

* * *

“I think this is the first college party ever,” Caduceus says as he is taking the turn at the stop sign.

“Really? Never snuck into one of these things when you were in high school?” Fjord asks as he jabs a thumb towards the house they pulled up to.

There was a long pause, Caduceus finding a spot to park somewhere on the grass lawn like many other cars started stacking up to do, “... Oh! I have actually, then.”

“Yeah? That sounds like a story you need to tell us some time,” Fjord opens his door and steps outside. Caleb and Caduceus follow after. 

The house sits in a suburban area outside the city. It took some driving to get to, but now that they were here, it would seem that it wasn’t just Beau who got word about this place. With the large space of property, plenty of cars could file in and many people could meander around. The front of the house faced away from a sloping hill, meaning that there was a simple set of stairs that led to a front patio. Several people were standing outside on that porch, talking and smoking. 

“This is still my first college party of this caliber,” Caduceus remarks as they ascend the stairs. Coming to the porch itself, there was music coming through the windows and inside the colors of the house were colored to be a deep magenta with some accents of blue.

“Then you haven’t truly partied, my friend,” Fjord opened the screen door for both of them to go through. Entering in, the music was much louder, and the house was incredibly warm from all the body heat coming off several people gathered inside, bumping and grinding with one another to the blaring music.

Caleb is already sinking into the collar of his coat when Fjord navigates them through the room all too full of people…

Standing in the kitchen by the keg are two women, and as the three come forward, they quickly recognize them as Beau and Jester. It made sense for them to see Jester, but also there stood Beau wearing full glam alongside her. Jester is dressed in a busty crop top, the cups shaping into a heart together, and white-furred half coat, and fitted into a tight sequin skirt. For Beau, she wore a cold shoulder, red dress, with a jean jacket bunched up at her elbows. And for the first time, Beau would be wearing heels.

Fjord whistles on his approach, “Well well, look it these fine ladies.”

While Jester does giggle, Beau is quick to stop short of punching Fjord’s nose, he flinches back at that and she smirks, “Two for flinchin’!” And quickly _pop-pops_ Fjord’s arm.

“You guys should have totally dressed up,” Jester says as she sips from her drink, “Makes the party feel way more fun.”

“Only downside is that creeps keep trying to leer at us,” Beau says, pulling her jacket over only one of her shoulders, “When’d you nerds get here?”

“Literally a minute ago,” Fjord says as he steps between them to grab a cup and start pouring from the keg, “Caleb, Deuces, either you want a drink?”

Caleb shakes his head silently, but Caduceus speaks up, “Nah, we’re both good.”

“Either you find Yasha and Molly yet?” Fjord finally gets his cup and takes a big swig from it.

“Nah, that’s why we’re hanging out here,” Beau gestures to the keg, “Hoping to run into them or for me to get drunk, whichever happens first.”

“Getting drunk sounds like a mighty fine plan,” Fjord tips his cup forward to that, before casually sipping and looking around the room-and then nearly spitting back up into his cup and choking.

“Fjord??” Jester is quick to pat his back as he coughs and sniffs at getting alcohol up into his sinuses, “Take it easy on the drinking, will ya?”

“Sorry- _koff koff_ -sorry yeah- _koff_ -Just went down the wrong pipe- _hmm_!” Fjord looks to Jester, “You uh… You know where the bathroom is?”

Jester points, “Down the hallway and to the right. Though I’d be careful cause I think two people went in there and they haven’t been back from having sex.”

Fjord considers the thought, but then nods, “Thank you I’ll go scout that out.”

As Fjord stalks away, Beau frowns, “Y’know, lemmie go help Fjord make sure he really gets that good sinus flush,” and walks after him.

“Well OK!” Jester calls back, looking then to Caleb and Caduceus, “Hey, do you guys wanna dance??”

Caleb seems to continue turtling into his own coat as Caduceus gives a shrug, “I’m not much for dancing, kinda got ‘two left feet’ as they say.”

“Oh it’s not that hard!” Jester says, “You just have a drink or two, and go out there, and wiggle around a bunch! No one _really_ knows how to dance, you just do stuff and it’s fun!”

Caduceus seems to give it a second thought, then steps up and takes a cup, pouring out from the keg into it, “Caleb?” He offers to him.

Caleb shakes his head, his red curls flopping around on top of the collar of his jacket.

For a moment, Caduceus hesitates, looking into the red solo cup and seeing just some sort of dark liquid swirl around inside it. The colored lights obscuring it: was it black or was it purple? Though, he decides to have a sip. For starters: it’s carbonated, kinda flat, but it tastes of something sticky and sweet, and then comes that hiss of alcohol that burns the back of his throat, only amplified by the fizzy drink it is mixed with.

“Mmh,” Caduceus clears his throat, “That’s uh, vodka-it’s vodka right?”

“Oh, I dunno,” Jester holds up her cup, “I just got myself some water from the sink.”

“What?”

“Well I wanted to look cool like everyone else right now!” Jester sips from her cup, “You don’t have to finish the drink if you don’t like it!”

There’s another moment of mulling it over Caduceus does, before landing on his decision, “Here,” He takes the keys from his pocket and hands them to Caleb, “I really shouldn’t let this drink go to waste.”

Caleb looks at the keys in his hands, shoving them into a pocket and giving a thumbs up to Caduceus.

“Great! C’mon Caduceus!” Jester tugs him by the arm to the living room.

* * *

Fjord takes big strides, bobbing and weaving through clusters of people talking to reach the bathroom door. Hand stopping short of turning the knob when a hand clasps his shoulder and he jumps, pressing his back to the wood.

“Fjord!” Beau is standing there with her drink in hand.

He gives an exaggerated sigh, “Where do you get off scarin’ me like that?”

“Where do you get off nearly choking on shitty mixed drinks?” Beau interrogates him, “Dude, are you alright?”

Fjord looks out over Beau’s shoulder, as though he’s waiting for something else to jump out at them, “M’fine, just needed to, um…” He begins ever so slowly sinking down in place, hiding behind Beau.

Now she’s annoyed and looks out behind her. There are just drunk young adults pretending to have the night of their lives out here. Though it clicks for Beau as in that crowd there is a familiar mop of red hair that is being thrown back by an elven girl. The hand on Fjord’s shoulder tightens.

“What’s she got you so upset about?”

“Nothing!” Fjord hisses back, “I-I just-I haven’t-I still haven’t told Jester about getting back with her and—”

Beau looks Fjord intensely in the eyes, “You did _what_?”

Now with his foot in his mouth, Fjord is unable to escape it, “... W-we’d been… Going out a few times so… We’re kinda… A thing… _Again_.”

Looking all the more _pissed_ , she then takes a deep breath through her nostrils, then turns around, “ _HEY!_ **_AVANTIKA!_ **”

Fjord about craps himself, as the red hair flops and her emerald eyes catch onto them. She then waves to the gaggle of girls she was talking with and hurries over to the two of them, “Beauregard? Fjord?? And I thought you were busy tonight with _‘homework’_.”

“... **_Haha!_ ** I finished it early, wouldn’t you know?” Fjord stands back upright, maybe even straighter than usual, “Did not expect _you_ to be here!”

“This was that party I was trying to tell you about,” Avantika teases as she walks up to Fjord’s side, her hand going to rest on his shoulder, “Hey Beau, how have you been?”

“Been better, this semester is kickin’ my ass though,” Beau casually talks with Avantika, only Fjord can tell behind those glazed eyes was the seething, raging anger that she was keeping so well concealed. And for what? But to torture _him_.

“I noticed you and Jester come in,” Avantika remarks, Fjord gives panicked eyes to Beau, “Are you two… A thing?”

Beau keeps sipping from her cup, eyes unchanged, hardly even blinking, “... Nah, she just wanted to dress up, and so did I,” She then quickly shifts tones to be a little more enthusiastic, “Speaking of I heard that _you and Fjord_ got back together! Good for you guys!”

Avantika gets bashful, patting Fjord’s shoulder, “Oh yes, he’s already told you?”

“Mmmmhm,” Beau takes a longer sip.

“Well, we’re not officially together or anything. School comes first, so we’re just keeping it casual and seeing where it leads us,” Avantika turns to Fjord, “Right?”

“Y-yeah!” Fjord clears his throat to stack up confidence, “We’re just taking it slow this time, not rushing into anything, none of that,” Shrugs, “Figured we just are still young and stupid and working this all out.”

_Young and_ ** _stupid_ **_alright,_ Beau mentally acknowledges, “Yeaah, well greaaat. I’ll leave you to it, catch you tomorrow, Fjord!” And quickly she pivots on her heel, walking away-nearly tripping a moment, but quickly picking back up the march.

* * *

The _Gilmore’s_ is quiet, save for the one old lady left in the store that is slowly crawling through the aisles. While Nott imagined pushing that woman into her cart and zooming her down the aisles to stock up on the last of her groceries, there was likely something in the handbook about how manhandling the elderly wasn’t allowed.

“Hey Nott,” Yeza comes around to the back of her check-out, he’s wearing his coat and has his arms behind his back, “I uh… I know I’m supposed to stay til closing, but my babysitter can’t stay that late at night

She picks her head up, “No totally! It’s not that much work left, besides, all I’m gonna do is go home and maybe get drunk watching junky old Valentine’s Day movies.”

He smiles at that, “Do you have work tomorrow?”

“Nope!” Nott exclaims excitedly, “I got off the next two days.”

“Wow!” Yeza laughs, “Lucky you, I just got tomorrow off. But! Luc is going to be staying with his mother for the weekend, so uh… Tomorrow if you aren’t busy…” His whole face starts turning red, as he pulls around a red paper bag filled with pink tissue paper and a card sticking out of it, “Maybe you’d…”

Nott looks curiously at the bag, then to Yeza, then to the fact he is holding the bag out to her, and then spots the neck of a bottle through the tissue paper, “For me??”

Yeza nods.

She takes the bag, almost immediately pulls out the bottle, and looks to see it is a spiced rum, making her gasp, “Shit this is fancy!”

“W-well look at the card at least!”

“Oh right right,” She puts the bottle back in, and pulls out the envelope, tearing it open and pulling out a card that reads:

_I’m bananas about you._

Then inside the card.

_So would you like to be my Valentine?_

Nott is astonished, and looking to Yeza she can see just how nervous he is by how he is staring at the floor and swinging his arms front and back.

“You uh… It’s OK if you don’t wanna! Feel free to keep the gift, I just thought that… Instead of drinking that alone, you might like to… Um…”

Nott scoots off the stool in front of Yeza, “Yeah, I’d like to.”

He is surprised by this, “R-really?”

Nott nods, “Yeah, I’ve… No one’s ever asked me out before, so I’m not really sure what uh… How all this works..?”

“Oh! Then let's start with something simple! Maybe we can go watch a movie, and you then go to my place for drinks and dinner?” Yeza pulls up his phone to start looking up the local theaters.

“That sounds pretty nice,” Nott’s face was blushing too now, suddenly she was catching onto those things people call _feelings_ , sweaty palms, racing heartbeat, butterflies in her stomach.

She felt… _Special_.

* * *

“ _I’m going out to the car!_ ” Caleb strains his voice to yell out over the music, “ _This was fun! I’m getting a headache though!_ ”

Jester awes, pulling Caleb in for a quick hug, “It was so good seeing you! Have a happy Valentine’s Day!”

He gives her a quick hug back, he’s stiff, but he hurries out through the sea of people, all of them swaying and sloshing around. Caduceus waves to him, all his senses about the world around him felt as though they were standing in a rocking ship. The floor would swoop under him and he would nearly bump into someone from trying to follow the beat, but he was practically numb to the vibrations.

No one seemed to care that this large drunkard was in a constant state of falling here in the middle of the dance floor. One drink. One damn drink. Caduceus knew very little of his alcohol tolerance, but he was almost sure he drank a whole cup of pure vodka with a splash of soda for amplifying a terrible taste left in his mouth.

Jester dances close to him, helping keep him up and get him to wiggle those bony hips with the rhythm and beat. Her hooping and hollering surely meant that he was doing good. Even his hair comes down over his face as he really tries to tune in with the scene. It sure helps to obscure his vision to not feel like a total oddball in this gathering of drunken college kids.

As they dance, Jester finds someone bumps up against her back, and she turns to them, “Oh sorry-“ And then there’s a sharp gasp and a happy squeal, arms throwing up around them, “Molly!!”

Caduceus catches his eyes on Jester hugging another tiefling, a woman? No, a man-actually, more like somewhere in between. No need to be judgy. They wore a colorful patterned floral shirt, tucked in at the waist by a tight belt that held up oversized jeans that were rolled up just above the ankles. They had some sharp eyeliner around ruby eyes, and shortened hair that was shockingly white, but their roots grew in a darker color.

“-this is Mollymauk!” Jester’s voice comes through to Caduceus, “Molly, this is our new friend, Caduceus!”

A purple hand with a tattoo of a snake on the back of it reaches out to Caduceus, “Charmed to meet you!”

Caduceus takes their hand, and rather than shaking it, he instead looks closer at the tattoo.

“Oh, curious are we?” Mollymauk chuckles, “I designed it myself, then had a friend put it on me.”

Caduceus gives a lopsided smile, “Aw neat,” He lets Mollymauk’s hand free, “You have to do one for me sometime.”

“A tattoo??” Mollymauk’s eyes widen at that.

“A snake.”

There’s a pause.

“On the arm.”

Mollymauk slowly turns back to Jester, “I’m so sorry it’s been entirely too long.”

Jester then hugs him again, “You had us all so worried!! What happened?”

Molly pulls back to look at her, “No no, we’re here to have a good time! I can tell you later.”

As they spoke, Yasha soon joined over with them and Jester excitedly shares a hug with her too.

“Yasha, do you know that tall drink there?” Molly asks, pointing to Caduceus.

“Oh! Yeah yeah, we actually have math together,” She says.

It clicks in Caduceus’s head, “ _Yassha,_ ” He steps closer to speak louder to her, “I got some notes for you in my car!”

Yasha pulls her head back from him, trying to avoid getting too close to his face, “You-you do?”

“Was hopin’ to find’ja, come on!” Caduceus waves her along and stumbles his way towards the door.

Jester looks to Molly and Yasha, waving them to follow her as they leave the dance floor.

“Where’d you pick up this fella?” Molly asks her.

“He’s Caleb’s new roommate! He’s really, really nice,” Jester is able to project less as they get out onto the patio, “I just don’t think he’s able to hold his alcohol that well.”

“How much did he drink??”

Jester taps her chin, “I think just one cup from the keg??”

Molly is then instantly delighted, barking out a laugh and even slapping his knee, “Beanstalk there had **_one_ ** are you serious!?”

“Aww Molly! Be nice!” Jester swats his arm while he is still cracking up giggles, “He doesn’t drink that often-- **_CADUCEUS!!_ **”

There are a lot of gasps and yells as the people standing around on the porch witness this tall firbolg come up to the railing. The railing is relatively short compared to him, and he seemed to assume it came up higher. But instead, he tips over it. There’s a moment he catches that feeling of weightlessness. A mere **half-second**.

Then the impact on the grassy lawn.

* * *

A young firbolg teen stands by the stairs in the living room, there are people socializing as the music plays. This was not really living up to the hype of most “college parties”, but Caduceus was holding a bottle of beer that he definitely shouldn’t be having at his age.

He hoped the drink would give him the “social courage” that people seemed to get in movies. All it was doing for him was making him feel a little unbalanced and a little more awkward. It’s not enough that his long limbs made him amble like a newborn giraffe, now he has to complicate it with numbing the part of his brain for rational thinking too?

“Hey,” A man sits himself down on one of the steps, talking through the railing to Caduceus, “What’s a pretty thing like you doing all alone over here?”

Caduceus lifts his head to the voice, “H-huh?”

Sitting there is a man wearing a washed-out red shirt and some shorts, carrying a coat over his shoulder, “You wanna go upstairs and get away from all the noise down here?”

With that rational voice in his head slurring its speech, there are no immediate alarms that go off in his head. If anything, he quietly just removes himself from the wall and-unsteadily-walks around to the bottom of the stairs, beer still in hand as his arm crosses over his chest and he starts to follow up after him.

“Aww, hey, what’s the matter?” He asks as he climbs a little ahead of Caduceus, “Somethin’ got you feeling down?”

The words to speak get jumbled up when trying to get them out of his mouth, doing nothing more than meekly “uhh” and “umm”ing.

Getting to the top of the stairs, another guy comes to pass, but stops and stares at-“Caduceus?”

“Who?” The redshirt man asks.

“Caduceus, what are you doing here??”

Caduceus then looks up, seeing the familiar face of Otis.

“... wait that’s not a chick?” The man gets increasingly concerned.

“No, and more importantly he’s fucking 16!” Otis angrily barks at the guy, who defensively throws up his hands.

“Chill! I had no fucking idea! I wasn’t going to do anything, I swear!”

Otis puts his hand on Caduceus’s shoulder and gets him to turn, “Caduceus you need- **_SHIT!_ **”

There was little room on one step for Caduceus’s long legs to find purchase and turn around so easily. His foot slips and suddenly he’s tumbling down.

* * *

Caduceus’s arm rests in a sling, while his forearm to elbow was put into a hard cast. The buzz of alcohol had long since left his body, and waking up in a hospital bed was sure one way to start off Valentine’s Day.

After having a nurse come to check up on him, there was a quiet calm that Caduceus got to have by himself in here.

… Hm… Quiet… Alone… It felt rather peaceful.

“ _Caduceus?_ ” A voice whispered from behind the curtain.

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

A blue face poked through and he gave a welcoming smile her way, “Hey, good to see ya, Jester.”

She then flies to his bedside, “Oh Caduceus! I’m so sorry!! I had no idea you would get so drunk that you’d **fall**!”

He chuckles, “Neither did I, so I don’t think you have anything to worry about there.”

Coming through the curtain after would be Caleb, holding some cloth roses, “Gute morning.”

“I picked Caleb up,” Jester explains, “Your car is safely back on campus, he drove it back last night for you!”

Caduceus gives an appreciative nod, “That’s very kind, thank you.”

Caleb nods as he comes up, “Uh, and this is for you,” From the fake bundle of flowers, he plucks out the one blue rose and holds it out to Caduceus.

He hesitates, but takes the wooden stem and looks at the cut of fabric to represent petals, “Oh?”

“It’s blue, which means that someone thinks you’re really cool and really unique,” Jester explains, “... And that someone is me.”

Caduceus looks back up to her.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Caduceus,” She then leans in and gives him a hug, mindful of his hurt shoulder, “Thank you for being such a cool friend.”

Still and unmoving, Caduceus gives it a second to really sink in.

These people… They’re his friends now.


End file.
